LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 522, 18 May 1915, Page 2

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

The following letter was written to his parents on March 21, by Bombadier R. C. Sinclair, B Battery : — We would like to satisfy desire for a trainload of souvenirs, curios,' etc., but the trouble is one can't very well tell whether they are genuine antiquities or just "'brummagem imitations. In nearly every case, too, the price asked is out of all proportion to the value of the article. Very often you can beat them down to a quarter of what these rooks originally wanted, and even then it's too hot. I got off on Saturday afternoon with five others from our battery, and we all had a very enjoyable and interesting sail up the Nile ; not a bad substitute for the Waikouaiti River, and there are no shallows. In some places it is over 100 ft deep. First of all we went to an hotel called York House, under the management of a French lady referred to as " Madame, ' and assisted by one "Mademoiselle." One of our party.had previously made arrangements with an Egyptian guide, who was last season employed at " Shepherds," the flash place here, as dragoman, etc. The tourist traffic being a negligible quantity this year, he was available for lesser fry. We cooled off on the balcony for a while, and then took a couple of cabs down to the landing stage. Our guide had provided the party with a kettle of fresh water, a primus stove, tea, sugar, milk, sandwiches, and cake; " each two slices," as the guide said. We called into a workroom on the way down, to pick up the stove, and saw the native method of making tiles, both fancy colors and plain. First the square mould (about 6in square and lin deep) is placed on the bench, then if different colors are wanted a pattern is placed inside, and sand, which has been colored the shades required, and enough water added to make it run easily is poured into the right compartment m the pattern. Then more white sand is thrown on top to dry things up a bit. The lot is then placed under a very heavy screw press and subjected to great pressure. After a few minutes it is ready to lift out and stack on battens to dry. They are worth about 12pt for 25 plain, and 18 to 21pt for 'fancy. Well, to. continue, we got to the noble craft (not exactly built on the same lines as Shamrock IV.) about 3.30, just as the bridge near by was swinging down after being drawn up for half an hour to allow boats to pass up and down. The boats were manned by two Egyptians (fairly ancient), one attending to the sail and the other to the tiller. We went up stream for one and a-half hours, and had pointed out the place (approximately) where Moses was found m the rushes. We then had a cup of tea and some food, waited until this had settled down, and then visited the Kilometer. This instrument to measure the rise and fall of the Nile was built by the big chief then reigning about 637 A.D. It consists of an artificial pool just like a well, about 6ft square, with two arched tunnels leading to and from the stream. There are also cement steps running down into it faced by an Egyptian inscription. In the centre, and partly supporting the dome over the whole, is a concrete pillar partly round and partly square and graduated for different levels. Our guide said that m "ye gciode olde dayes " : "The boss dog he say to collector of the taxi Go! Get the money for the water which the farmer have use pn his land. But farmer he say what for have we /to pay with no corn, no crop. The water it no come this year. So the boss he build this Kilometer, a*ojd if the Nile come up to the mark he collect tax, if no come to mark then no tax, see." Of course we all ' savvied, "and he said : ' 'That no used now to store water, they shut up the Nile first at the Barrage and then at Asint, then some other place, and then Assuan, and so keep a lot of water for when the Nile it go down again." We also saw some lovely vines and fig trees, but not m fruit, worse luck. Back to the boat we went, and across the Nfle took a tram up to the hotel where we had ham and eggs, bread, butter, tea — any amount of it — also blancmange and figs, very decent after camp fare. " Madame " and " Mademoiselle came m to see how we had enjoyed our trip, which we all vbted first-class. It was very amusing to hear her trying to. talk English, such a funny, droll manner, laughing and talking at the same .time. Her dress was trimmed with some atrocious imitation tartan (very much affected here), and on being asked if it was the Gordon Tartan, said : " Oui, oui, mo Scotch, too." We then, up anchor, and back, back, back to the land m the shape of the desert, and we crawled into our several nests well satisfied with the day's outing. Private F. A. Cameron, a member of the Third Reinforcements, wrote •to his mother as .follows on March 18 : — I was vaccinated on Saturday (the day we leftiColombo), but I am afraid it is not going to take on me, so most likely I will have to be done again ; but I don't mind, as it is merely a few scratches. We had another burial service on the >next day ISunday). The victim was a North Islander named M'Kay: He was a bugler, and the sad part is that just the Sunday previous he played the last respects to the Maori that was buried. His death was caused by the heat— some sort of a sun stroke.

For my part, .'the fighting (or rather the thought of it, co far) is not worrying me, as I feel confident "m myself and m my fellow-mates, and, best of all, my officers. If anything was to happen to any of vs — well, we took it on with our own free wills, and were not driven .to it by our Emrjire, like our opponents are being at the present day. We have all sorts of games, plenty of music (brass band included). Last night (St. Patrick's Day) we had a grand concert m the dining room down on the next deck to us, and all the portholes were open, and every now and then it was very amusing, as a flying fish would come thrpugh the port on to the tables. They are Very plentiful m the Tropics, and they can fly, too. We have plenty of good talent m this crowd, and altogether we have a fine lot of chaps. We have all sorts of tournaments, such as cards, draughts, and boxing, etc., and we have some good sport. There is no doubt that our company ("B") have the best boat, as the others have not got the deck space that we have, and that we take full advantage of day and night. ' I was greatly struck with the Salvation Army m Colombo. They have a fine building, and the street-corner, gathering is quite a novelty to see. They had a white man and his wife and a small girl ..bout five years of age, and then all the followers are black women and men. Their captain (white man) speaks m English, and after every sentence a black fellow- interprets it m their language. When the captain noticed some of us m uniform amongst his audience he called on his little daughter to sing us " Tipperary,' her mother accompanying her with the I forget what you call it, but the same as our Army girls play. Well, tbis pretty little girl sang the song beautifully, ancl really we were sorry when the gather jng was dispersed.' 'Atidther fine sight, and also one that we shall 1 never forget, was the great temple. We were taken there by a guide and when we arrived at the entrance to this magnificent place we were informed

that we had* to remove our boots before entering. The sights and fine work inside of those walls were worth Temoving all your clothes (even if you got them stolen). The walk are all wonderfully carved, and the ceilings, etc., are covered with beautiful hand pointings. There are all sorts of gold birds, etc., as idols, and the natives, come with flowers and deposit them m front of these. We were all through the soldiers' barracks, and they are immense buildings, and we had the pleasure of seeing a shipload of these soldiers embark and sail for France (Marseilles) en route to the front. They are fine men and very smart soldiers. The following letter, written by a soldier to his parents, bears the date March 29 : — "We have been away three days to a place called Barrage. This is one of the many huge dams whereby the country is irrigated. Although it would take an engineer to appreciate these works, yet they are vastly interesting — the huge locks which control the flow, the forts at each end, etc. Of course there are several swing bridges, to allow the Nile boats, with their huge masts, to pass through. Then the forts at each end have an orthodox drawbridge and portcullis. This dam is formed by linking up a chain of islands! across the river. We camped on one of these islands. It is one huge garden — lawns, palms, flowers. The first real lawn i've -seen m Egypt is here. It is spring here, and tropical flowers are everywhere. After the bare desert this lovely park was a welcome change. Here, too, is a very interesting museum. It contains nothing but models of Egyptian waterworks — dams, aqueducts, water wheels, dredges, sand pumps, and bridges. All the models are true m detail and constructed out of the same materials. Each model is accompanied by a short description. Well, we went there to swim our horses. Great sport ! This is how it's done. An endless rope is formed across the water, and a lot of men on each bank keep it revolving. The horses are tied on to it at 15ft intervals, and are towed through the water. The exciting part is getting them tied on to a moving rope and untying them the other side. You see the rope must not be stopped or the horses m the water would' get their , legs over it and be pulled under. One horse was tied by a beast of a knot, and did the round trip twice before he could be undone. Another got caught ih the rope, and did the journey under water. He was lifeless when he arrived, and he had to be cut off the rope, so as to give the others a chance. To our surprise, he came back to life shortly afterwards, and appeared none the worse. Some horses got loose, and went for a swim on their own. It was a great sight to see about 100 wet horses frantically rolling m the sand to dry. I wished I had my camera, but there are no films to be cot m Cairo for some time. I had a dandy horse, belonging to one of the Staff captains, and enjoyed the ride immensely. We are to be inspected by Sir lan Hamilton to-day. He is m command of a force of British and French m Alexandria. So it looks as if we are to move off shortly. We are sick of waiting. Last week was an easy one. The troop took a day off, and went for a picnic to the aquariums of Gezira. Decent trip ! Then there 'have been elaborate excursions to Sakkara and other tourist resorts, but they cost too much."